PI subscribers can log in for details of the producer, line producer and casting director and a likely start date for shooting.

The show was created by Benjamin Ross, and writer Barry Langford, and is backed by funding from Northern Ireland Screen.

In September this year, Bean began filming his starring role of Father Michael Kerrigan in Broken, Jimmy’ McGovern’s major new Liverpool-set 6 x 60 drama for BBC One about a Catholic priest and his struggle with his faith in contemporary Britain.

So I found out that A&E has a facebook page. I asked them when they would be airing FRANKENSTEIN CHRONICLES on their channel ??This was 2 days ago and so far NO ANSWER. when I get an answer I will share it with all of you here !!! However, I think maybe we could get the answer sooner if more of SEAN'S FANS would go to A&E's facebook page ask the same question.

TV has always loved adaptations, remakes, and spin offs. But the past few years have seen a new trend: brands. These can be an updated reboot of a classic (BBC’s Sherlock or ITV’s Jekyll & Hyde), stories inspired by well-known people (ITV’s Houdini & Doyle and Arthur & George – both featuring Arthur Conan Doyle in this case), or series inspired by literally classics rather than straight adaptations (Sky’s Penny Dreadful and ITV Encore’s The Frankenstein Chronicles). The Frankenstein Chronicles is particularly interesting in the way it harnesses its source material, creating a reimagined story and characters that are inspired by the novel rather than staying faithful to it. Indeed, The Frankenstein Chronicles is self-reflexive in featuring Mary Shelley herself in the drama: her book “Frankenstein” has already been published, and instead an army veteran is recruited by Sir Robert Peel (who will shortly create the Metropolitan Police) to investigate the appearance of several bodies which appear to have been experimented on in the style of Frankenstein, perhaps even inspired by the novel.

What is interesting about The Frankenstein Chronicles though, is the way it weaves the Frankenstein story throughout the 6 part series. At the start, Mary Shelley is very present, as the investigator Marlott pursues the truth behind her secret experiments with her husband which led to writing her book. Marlott is trying to uncover who is behind the creation of the mismatched bodies and why – taking him to explore a respected surgeon’s fascination with reanimation through galvanism. As the episodes progress, however, the pursuit of the investigation and the companions Marlott acquires seem to set this show up more as a conventional detective drama. We get the sense that Marlott and his colleague Nightingale make a good team, will solve this case, establish themselves as detectives and simply move onto a new case in subsequent series. By the start of episode 5 it absolutely feels like Frankenstein as a brand has enabled this set up to take root, and it can move on from the source material by simply retaining the gothic tone of the novel, rather than needing to stay with the story. The use of brands in this sense is even more satisfying with a mention of Marlott previously being a member of the 95th Rifles – the same as Sean Bean’s character in Sharpe – and the theme tune of Sharpe is even whistled by a character in the series. These references cunningly incorporate another popular brand into the show, without directly addressing it, to recommend itself to viewers.

The end of the series, however, takes a turn that I was absolutely not expecting: Marlott is accused of murder; all his allies turn on him; he is tried and hanged. The hero detective who I thought was being set up for a dynamic and enjoyable returning series is dead (mind you, this is Sean Bean: I don’t know why his death was a surprise). But more so: Marlott then finds himself conscious again. He has been patched up by the charming but suspicious doctor; spare body parts have been used to reanimate his corpse, and he is the Frankenstein Monster. The series ends with Marlott escaping, hobbling away into the countryside, naked, growling at his abhorrent appearance, officially dead and without friends. Apart from the shock of having the neatly constructed detective precinct torn away, I was really surprised that the series did indeed go through with the Frankenstein story, of sorts. The tragedy that exists in the novel and the menacing undertones are lifted and played out in The Frankenstein Chronicles. But more than that, rather than remain grounded in the realistic world, with a surgeon trying but failing repeatedly to reanimate corpses, it chooses to enter the fantastical world of the novel by resurrecting Marlott. In the end it really is a reimagining of the novel, rather than the drama simply being inspired by it.

Filming begins this month on the second series of The Frankenstein Chronicles, and Sean Bean is set to return. We are yet to see how the drama will continue, with the story of the novel more or less completed and the detective set up having been removed, but more crucially, how the series will navigate the balance between having a heretofore realistic setting, and a protagonist who everyone knows is dead but has been cut up and brought back to life. It’s a challenge I look forward to

Frankenstein Chronicles - Sean Bean is looking for a monster: Soon on DVD and Blu-ray

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Anyone who has missed Sean Bean's investigations into Frankenstein so far can solve the riddle of the mutilated corpses, which are recently washed on the British coast, soon on DVD and Blu-ray Disc. On the pay TV premiere with TNT series WVG media on 28 April 2017 the official start on DVD and Blu-ray follow. Included are a total of 3 (DVD) and 2 (Blu-ray) discs with the complete first season and a total length of 283 minutes In addition to the six one-hour episodes, there are still making ofs, interviews with Sean Bean, and a B-roll as a thriller